These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'astrocyte.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The first known use of astrocyte was
in 1896

Medical Definition of astrocyte

: a star-shaped cellespecially: any comparatively large much-branched glial cell Glia outnumber neurons in the human brain by a factor of 10 to one, and astrocytes are the most abundant type of glial cell. — Tina Hesman Saey, Science News, 2 Aug. 2008Astrocytes come in two main forms: fibrous astrocytes are found in the white matter and protoplasmic astrocytes in the gray matter. — Harold Kimelberg and Michael Norenberg, Scientific American, April 1989